Independent Liberal Party (ILP) councillor Simeon Mahabir was offered as much as $5 million to vote against his party in the selection of a Chaguanas mayor last Friday, says ILP interim leader Jack Warner.Warner described the offers being made to "buy" Mahabir's support as "obscene and vulgar" and said even now, government agents are trying to "woo" Mahabir.Mahabir fought and won the Munroe Road/Caroni Savannah seat for the ILP in the October 21 local government elections.
"The Government has realised that a council with a five-sevenths government council is ungovernable," Warner said."They are attempting to woo councillor Mahabir to at least have a six-six tie and then let the Mayor cast his vote."While Warner levelled similar charges against former member Faaiq Mohammed, saying he had accepted a $2.5 million bribe from the Government to vote against the ILP, in this instance the ILP recorded the offer to Mahabir, Warner said.
Warner played what purported to be a telephone conversation between a man claiming to be a Government emissary and Mahabir.Speaking at a media conference at the party headquarters in Chaguanas yesterday, Warner asked the media to listen to the recording. They asked that all recording devices be left out of the meeting room.
In the recording, the man told Mahabir that the offer could "drastically" change his life and that of his family.When Mahabir pressed further to secure an amount, he was told the financial inducement could be as much as $5 million.The call, they say, came at 11.10 am on Friday, just hours before the deadlock broke and United National Congress councillor Gopaul Boodan was named as the new mayor."In less than 48 hours, I assure you I will say much more," Warner said yesterday.
Warner promised to release the recording and transcripts of it after he met with relevant police officials."There are other issues which involve me now and they are coming after me," he said.The matter, he said, would be investigated."The pressures and inducement have not stopped," he said.He said that money was being paid through "Government kickbacks."He said unlike the Congress of the People, the ILP will not be bought for "carrots."
"The ILP will not be part of that," he said.Warner said Mahabir's Cepep contract was also taken away by a Government minister."He has been offered more than $5 million, a house, an SUV and he would get back his Cepep contract," he said.Mahabir said despite being in the middle of this tug-of-war, he was not concerned for his own safety.
Warner said he was not concerned about the threat of legal action after the fallout between him and Mohammed. "If I didn't have to give it to my lawyer, I would have thrown it in the bin," he said.